Page 29 of Bound

“Gryn.” He nods. “Don’t often get gladiators here.”

“I’m not a gladiator,” I respond.

“Unlikely,” the Zarvu says. “All Gryn on Trefa are gladiators. I should know.”

“You’ve worked in the dome.”

He stops wiping a rag over the surface in front of him. “My brother did.”

Vrex! This is not going well. I check around me, looking for weapons, looking for threats.

“He said the Gryn were treated worse than the beasts they were set to kill.” The Zarvu shakes his head. “To think Tatatunga was once considered more refined than Kal.”

“Kal?” Chrissie queries, and the Zarvu strains his neck to see her. My lips ripple with a snarl I cannot control. “Where is Kal?”

“You’re standing in it,” the Zarvu says. “Such as it is.”

“I need somewhere for my mate to rest and transport back to Tatatunga in the morning,” I say in order to get his attention away from Chrissie.

“I have rooms,” he says. “Not here, down a way. You’ll be wanting the baths too, I reckon,” he adds with a crooked smile on his horned face.

The thought of a bath makes all my feathers prick at once. I do my level best not to react. But by the look he gives me, I don’t think I’ve managed.

“My mate needs food too.”

“That can be arranged.”

I look down at my Chrissie. She’s dusty and she looks tired. We could spend the next nova-hour looking for rooms, rather than taking the first ones we come across, but I don’t want to put her under any more strain.

“We’ll take it,” I growl.

I can only hope Fenek made good on his promise to pay me, or I’ll be having an awkward discussion with the Zarvu later.

We’re handed a small key chip and given directions to the rooms the Zarvu rents out. He claims there are baths underneath which will be big enough for a fully grown Gryn.

I highly doubt it.

“The whole of Kal is fed by hot springs. You’ll find them better than anything you can get in Tatatunga,” he claims.

My feathers shake slightly, something I stop straight away when a small hand slips into them at the very base. I actually feel my knees buckle slightly at her touch in a place no one ever has.

“If you know what’s good for you,” I murmur. “You’ll take care what you touch.”

Chrissie looks innocently up at me and pushes her fingers farther in, the tips sweeping my skin. My eyes roll in my head, thoughts of nesting, of mating, of a ripe little female at the very center consuming me.

Then the hand is gone. The Zarvu stares at me. I growl, taking Chrissie’s hand and ushering her out of the bar.

CHRISSIE

I think I might have found a chink in Rych’s armor. Something my big muscular bodyguard can’t control. His own body.

The room the barkeeper promised us is more like an apartment. Situated at the back of the bright white building, away from the main thoroughfare, it’s quiet, looking out over an open area filled with vegetation to the hills beyond which spiral with larger dwellings. I lean on the balcony outside and take in the air.

Breathing seems easy here. My joints don’t hurt as much, even after all the traveling today. I feel alive.

“Little spark?” Rych’s voice rumbles behind me.

A shiver runs through my body. He’s promised me and threatened me with so many things during our journey here, the anticipation causes a fizz of excitement.

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